Labour's Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry has branded the council as 'chaotic'.

During a visit to the town, the Islington South and Finsbury MP said Gravesend residents "see nothing but chaos" when they look at the council.

Ms Thornberry came to see Labour candidates for the upcoming local elections and visited the Light Vessel 21 on the Promenade - a 40 metre ship that's been transformed into an art space.

She claimed people in Gravesend casting their votes next week will be looking for leadership in their council.

"I do think they're looking for a bit of leadership and time out from the chaos. I think that they look to the national government and they see nothing but chaos," the 58-year-old added.

"And I'm afraid they look at the local council and see nothing but chaos as well.

"We think it's in the interest of the country to remain in the European Union. But we're democrats over and above everything else we're public servants and we'll do as the public say." - Emily Thornberry

"I think they want to have strong leadership and some big decisions made, about things like housing where there are developments.

"There really should be homes that people in Gravesham can afford, not just luxury developments and standing up to developers and making sure that 30% of all new homes are affordable.

"But also leisure facilities for the kids, there's a contentious development going on at the moment about the future of a leisure centre and Labour thinks we should be thinking about the youngsters and about sport and health and I think that's important.

"You need a local authority that's grounded in the community and know what the community want and is prepared to make bold and brave decisions on behalf of the community.

"I mean it's difficult. Local government is really hard at the moment because of the amount of cuts that central government has imposed. But with a bit of unity, with a bit of leadership, with a bit of vision you can make a difference to a community."

When asked how Labour would satisfy Gravesend and Dartford residents, who overwhelmingly voted to leave the European Union, with regards to Brexit, Ms Thornberry said despite her party's stance on wanting to remain, if constituents were resolute about leaving, they would listen.

She added: "We think it's in the interest of the country to remain in the European Union. But we're democrats over and above everything else we're public servants and we'll do as the public say.

"We've been saying to them [the Government] if you want us to agree to your deal, we have a certain number of tests, listen to our tests, if you want our support it has to pass our tests and they just haven't paid any attention.

"So it's been really difficult and really contentious and our problem is that although we continue to try and work with the government, unless they're prepared to compromise we're going to get stuck."

The Labour MP also criticised the Tories for a rise in violent crime due to police cuts.

"The truth is this Tory government has cut back on the number of police officers to such an extent that if you listen to people you get common sense telling you we have to have officers on the street to talk to," she said.

"Police officers have to work with communities, but if they're not there you can't work with them. The cutting back on police officers is really frightening and irresponsible."

She also said that "we need to be honest with ourselves about what our community wants" when asked about immigration, before adding: "I don't think it's right to say we don't need inmigration in this country because I think we always have and we always will."

When asked about a tweet in 2014 that led to he resignation, where Ms Thornberry sparked outrage for publishing a picture of a man's house in Rochester that was draped in England flags.

She said: "I think I made a mistake and I paid a high price for it and I apologised.

"The thing that probably upset me about it all was this idea that I look down on people, because I was brought up on a council estate and my house was pretty small and my brother was a builder, so a lot of assumptions were made.

"But that's all in the past and what's important is looking forward and nobody's perfect and people can make mistakes and I didn't mean to offend anybody, but clearly I may well have and so I apologised and I resigned."

Gravesham council has been approached for comment.